ALBERT

Description: Many large, fishery-targeted predatory species have attained very high relative densities as a direct result of protection by no-take marine reserves. Indirect effects, via interactions with targeted species, may also occur for species that are not themselves targeted by fishing. In some temperate rocky reef ecosystems, indirect effects have caused profound changes in community structure, notably the restoration of predator–urchin–macroalgae trophic cascades. Yet, indirect effects on small benthic reef fishes remain poorly understood, perhaps because of behavioral associations with complex, refuge-providing habitats. Few, if any, studies have evaluated any potential effects of marine reserves on habitat associations in small benthic fishes. We surveyed densities of small benthic fishes, including some endemic species of triplefin (Tripterygiidae), along with fine-scale habitat features in kelp forests on rocky reefs in and around multiple marine reserves in northern New Zealand over 3 years. Bayesian generalized linear mixed models were used to evaluate evidence for (1) main effects of marine reserve protection, (2) associations with habitat gradients, including complexity, and (3) differences in habitat associations inside versus outside reserves. No evidence of overall main effects of marine reserves on species richness or densities of fishes was found. Both richness and densities showed strong associations with gradients in habitat features, particularly habitat complexity. In addition, some species exhibited reserve-by-habitat interactions, having different associations with habitat gradients inside versus outside marine reserves. Two species ( Ruanoho whero and Forsterygion flavonigrum ) showed stronger positive associations with habitat complexity inside reserves. These results are consistent with the presence of a behavioral risk effect, whereby prey fishes are more strongly attracted to habitats that provide refuge from predation in areas where predators are more abundant. This work highlights the importance of habitat structure and the potential for fishing to affect behavioral interactions and the interspecific dynamic attributes of community structure beyond simple predator–prey consumption and archetypal trophic cascades. Densities of small, benthic, reef fishes are generally greater in more complex microhabitats, which can provide refuge from predators. We demonstrate that positive associations between densities of prey fishes and habitat complexity are stronger inside marine reserves, where predators are larger and more abundant. In the absence of any evidence for lower overall densities inside reserves (and thus any direct effect of predation), we consider the stronger habitat associations observed here are likely due to a behavioural risk effect: in the presence of abundant potential predators, prey fishes more strongly favour complex refuge-providing habitats.

Description: One-dimensional solute transport modeling to simulate experimental tracer releases in rivers is common practice. However, few studies have investigated the effect of experiment type (slug injection v. constant rate injection) on model parameter sensitivity and identifiability. We conducted slug injection and constant-rate experiments in a low-gradient, alluvial, headwater tundra stream in northern Alaska. Each experimental data set was simulated with the One-dimensional Transport with Inflow and Storage (OTIS) model, and analyzed with Monte Carlo-based techniques to investigate differences in global sensitivity and time-varying identifiability of the model parameters. We found that the longitudinal dispersion parameter exhibited relatively high sensitivity for the slug injection data, while the storage zone area parameter exhibited relatively high sensitivity for the constant rate injection data. The storage zone area and storage zone – main channel exchange rate parameters show heightened sensitivity during rising and tailing portions of the constant rate injection breakthrough curve, whereas for the slug injection data, increased identifiability for these parameters is only observed during the tailing portion of the breakthrough curve. Results demonstrate that selection of slug injection or constant rate experiment type impacts parameter sensitivity and time-varying identifiability, and that experimental data can easily be analyzed to understand the relative information content associated with each parameter of a 1D transient storage model.

Description: Ecological modeling shows that even small, gradual changes in body size in a fish population can have large effects on natural mortality, biomass, and catch. However, efforts to model the impact of climate change on fish growth have been hampered by a lack of long-term (multidecadal) data needed to understand the effects of temperature on growth rates in natural environments. We used a combination of dendrochronology techniques and additive mixed-effects modeling to examine the sensitivity of growth in a long-lived (up to 70 years), endemic marine fish, the western blue groper ( Achoerodus gouldii ), to changes in water temperature. A multi-decadal biochronology (1952–2003) of growth was constructed from the otoliths of 56 fish collected off the southwestern coast of Western Australia, and we tested for correlations between the mean index chronology and a range of potential environmental drivers. The chronology was significantly correlated with sea surface temperature in the region, but common variance among individuals was low. This suggests that this species has been relatively insensitive to past variations in climate. Growth increment and age data were also used in an additive mixed model to predict otolith growth and body size later this century. Although growth was relatively insensitive to changes in temperature, the model results suggested that a fish aged 20 in 2099 would have an otolith about 10% larger and a body size about 5% larger than a fish aged 20 in 1977. Our study shows that species or populations regarded as relatively insensitive to climate change could still undergo significant changes in growth rate and body size that are likely to have important effects on the productivity and yield of fisheries.

Description: The effects of climate change are difficult to predict for many marine species because little is known of their response to climate variations in the past. However, long-term chronologies of growth, a variable that integrates multiple physical and biological factors, are now available for several marine taxa. These allow us to search for climate-driven synchrony in growth across multiple taxa and ecosystems, identifying the key processes driving biological responses at very large spatial scales. We hypothesized that in northwest (NW) Australia, a region that is predicted to be strongly influenced by climate change, the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) phenomenon would be an important factor influencing the growth patterns of organisms in both marine and terrestrial environments. To test this idea, we analyzed existing growth chronologies of the marine fish Lutjanus argentimaculatus , the coral Porites spp. and the tree Callitris columellaris and developed a new chronology for another marine fish, Lethrinus nebulosus . Principal components analysis and linear model selection showed evidence of ENSO-driven synchrony in growth among all four taxa at interannual time scales, the first such result for the Southern Hemisphere. Rainfall, sea surface temperatures, and sea surface salinities, which are linked to the ENSO system, influenced the annual growth of fishes, trees, and corals. All four taxa had negative relationships with the Niño-4 index (a measure of ENSO status), with positive growth patterns occurring during strong La Niña years. This finding implies that future changes in the strength and frequency of ENSO events are likely to have major consequences for both marine and terrestrial taxa. Strong similarities in the growth patterns of fish and trees offer the possibility of using tree-ring chronologies, which span longer time periods than those of fish, to aid understanding of both historical and future responses of fish populations to climate variation.

Description: Streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys (MDVs) of Antarctica moderate an important hydrologic and biogeochemical connection between upland alpine glaciers, valley-bottom soils, and lowland closed-basin lakes. Moreover, MDV streams are simple but dynamic systems ideal for studying interacting hydrologic and ecological dynamics. This work synthesizes 20 years of hydrologic data, collected as part of the McMurdo Dry Valleys Long-Term Ecological Research project, to assess spatial and temporal dynamics of hydrologic connectivity between glaciers, streams, and lakes. Long-term records of stream discharge (Q), specific electrical conductance (EC), and water temperature (T) from 18 streams were analyzed in order to quantify the magnitude, duration, and frequency of hydrologic connections over daily, annual, and inter-annual timescales. At a daily timescale, we observe predictable diurnal variations in Q, EC, and T. At an annual timescale, we observe longer streams to be more intermittent, warmer, and have higher median EC values, compared to shorter streams. Longer streams also behave chemostatically with respect to EC, whereas shorter streams are more strongly characterized by dilution. Inter-annually, we observe significant variability in annual runoff volumes, likely due to climatic variability over the 20 record years considered. Hydrologic connections at all timescales are vital to stream ecosystem structure and function. This synthesis of hydrologic connectivity in the MDVs provides a useful end-member template for assessing hydrologic connectivity in more structurally complex temperate watersheds. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.

Description: Ecological functions are coupled to the physical transport of water and solutes in streams. Transport of conservative tracers in lotic systems is subject to the processes of advection, dispersion, transient storage, and mass loss to groundwater. Stream tracer experiments and the simulation of observed tracer breakthrough curve (BTC) data with 1-D numerical transient storage models (TSMs) are commonly used to quantify these processes. Results from TSMs can be useful, but issues related to model appropriateness and parameter identifiability suggest a need for conceptually simpler approaches to BTC analyses. We present a new approach to analyze BTCs to quantify the amount of stream water transported by each dominant process. BTCs are analyzed to parse the total quantity of injected tracer mass into three dominant process domains: advection and dispersion, transient storage, and gross loss of tracer. This method can be used to quantify the relative influence of transport processes within, and among streams, and estimate the proportion of stream water associated with each mode of transport. As proof of concept, we apply this approach to conservative tracer injections on two streams of contrasting morphology. Application of this method indicates that transport of injected solute mass in an alluvial stream is dominated by advection and dispersion, relative to a beaded, peat-bottomed stream, where more tracer mass transport was found to be associated with longer timescale transient storage processes. This approach provides a simple, inexpensive, and useful quantification of dominant transport processes and provides an additional tool for analyzing experimental BTC data.

Description: Concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationships are often used to quantify source water contributions and biogeochemical processes occurring within catchments, especially during discrete hydrological events. Yet, the interpretation of C-Q hysteresis is often confounded by complexity of the critical zone, such as numerous source waters and hydrochemical non-stationarity. Consequently, researchers must often ignore important runoff pathways and geochemical sources/sinks, especially the hyporheic zone because it lacks a distinct hydrochemical signature. Such simplifications limit efforts to identify processes responsible for the transience of C-Q hysteresis over time. To address these limitations, we leverage the hydrologic simplicity and long-term, high-frequency Q and electrical conductivity (EC) data from streams in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. In this two end-member system, EC can serve as a proxy for the concentration of solutes derived from the hyporheic zone. We utilize a novel approach to decompose loops into sub-hysteretic EC-Q dynamics to identify individual mechanisms governing hysteresis across a wide range of timescales. We find that hydrologic and hydraulic processes govern EC response to diel and seasonal Q variability and that the effects of hyporheic mixing processes on C-Q transience differ in short and long streams. We also observe that variable hyporheic turnover rates govern EC-Q patterns at daily to interannual timescales. Lastly, sub-hysteretic analysis reveals a period of interannual freshening of glacial meltwater streams related to the effects of unsteady flow on hyporheic exchange. The sub-hysteretic analysis framework we introduce may be applied more broadly to constrain the processes controlling C-Q transience and advance understanding of catchment evolution.

Description: Researchers have long noted the potential for shallow hydrothermal fluids to perturb near-surface temperatures. Several investigators have made qualitative or semi-quantitative use of elevated surface temperatures; for example, in snowfall calorimetry, or for tracing subsurface flow paths. However, a quantitative framework connecting surface temperature observations with conditions in the subsurface is currently lacking. Here, we model an area of shallow subsurface flow at Burgdorf Hot Springs, a rustic commercial resort in the Payette National Forest, north of McCall, Idaho USA. We calibrate the model using shallow (0.2 m depth) ground temperature measurements and overburden thickness estimates from seismic refraction studies. The calibrated model predicts negligible loss of heat energy from the laterally-migrating fluids at the Burgdorf site, in spite of the fact that thermal anomalies are observed in the unconsolidated near-surface alluvium. Although elevated near-surface ground temperatures are commonly assumed to result from locally high heat flux, this conflicts with the small apparent heat loss during lateral flow inferred at the Burgdorf site. We hypothesize an alternative explanation for near-surface temperature anomalies that is only weakly dependent on heat flux, and more strongly controlled by the Biot number, a dimensionless parameter that compares the rate at which convection carries heat away from the land surface to the rate at which it is supplied by conduction to the interface.

Description: Entrainment of growth patterns of multiple species to single climatic drivers can lower ecosystem resilience and increase the risk of species extinction during stressful climatic events. However, predictions of the effects of climate change on the productivity and dynamics of marine fishes are hampered by a lack of historical data on growth patterns. We use otolith biochronologies to show that the strength of a boundary current, modulated by the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, accounted for almost half of the shared variance in annual growth patterns of five of six species of tropical and temperate marine fishes across 23° of latitude (3000 km) in Western Australia. Stronger flow during La Niña years drove increased growth of five species, whereas weaker flow during El Niño years reduced growth. Our work is the first to link the growth patterns of multiple fishes with a single oceanographic/climate phenomenon at large spatial scales and across multiple climate zones, habitat types, trophic levels and depth ranges. Extreme La Niña and El Niño events are predicted to occur more frequently in the future and these are likely to have implications for these vulnerable ecosystems, such as a limited capacity of the marine taxa to recover from stressful climatic events. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved.